Group urges Missouri state lawmakers to restore funding for DUI checkpoints

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) National President Colleen Sheehey-Church and MADD Missouri volunteers are holding a gathering at the Rotunda of the state capitol in Jefferson City Tuesday at 11 a.m. to call on legislators to restore funding for sobriety checkpoints.

Image courtesy of Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Last year, as part of the 2018 budgeting process, the legislature reduced funding for sobriety checkpoints to $1.

Appearing at the rally will be Republican State Representative Kathie Conway of St. Charles, Meghan Carter, Executive Director, MADD Missouri and Colleen Sheehey-Church, MADD National President.

“This (sobriety checkpoints) is an important law enforcement tool that serves as both a deterrent to anyone who might drink and drive and also to catch those who make the dangerous decision to drink and drive,” a statement from MADD said.

According to Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick, drunk driving check-points were stripped of all but one dollar in the chamber’s budget for the current fiscal year because another tactic, saturation patrols, is more effective.

“Check points are becoming avoidable,” said Fitzpatrick. “There’s literally apps now that’ll tell people if there’s a check point anywhere. So they just drive around them. Saturation patrols get more people off the road. They cost less money per arrest.”

Fitzpatrick said saturation patrols also don’t violate 4th Amendment rights by stopping and searching people with no probable cause.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, a meta-analysis found that checkpoints reduce alcohol-related crashes by 17 percent, and all crashes by 10 to 15 percent.